He's the player other linemen look to now, too. On Sunday against New England, for example, the resourceful Patriots coaches noticed something to exploit on this untested line.

Rookie guard Sam Brenner was stepping forward to block as McKinnie stepped back. Defensive end Chandler Jones would crash down into Brenner, opening a gap as McKinnie follwed him.

The defensive tackle or linebacker would loop around Jones for a free run at quarterback Ryan Tannehill. That led to one sack. After the second time, McKinnie said to Brenner, "OK, here's what you need to do …"

That's the 12 years of experience the Dolphins got in this desperation trade. That's the good football mind that came in from Baltimore to replace Jonathan Martin at left tackle.

This trade was McKinnie's idea, too. He began suffering from a right knee injury earlier this year – "a torn meniscus," he says, sitting at his locker, pulling a therapeutic sleeve over the knee after practice.

That knee is part of the story that led to McKinnie's Baltimore exit. But let's tell the full story. He was a legend at the University of Miami, where he not only didn't give up a sack in a game but never in practice. By his senior year, everyone knew.

"In practice, in games, everyone was trying for it,'' he said. "A Florida State guy got close once, rushing around me and their sideline started to go crazy because he almost go there. Almost. I was like, 'All that because he almost got a sack?' ''

He was the seventh pick overall by Minnesota in 2002, and for stretches of nine years was as good as anyone in the game. Then Ray Lewis, his former Miami teammate, called from Baltimore when McKinnie was a free agent.

"I need you to come here," Lewis said.

"OK, let me look around and …'' McKinnie said.

"No, there's no looking around", Lewis said.

He went to Baltimore. He helped win a Super Bowl. He graded out this preseason as Baltimore's top lineman. And then …

"Something happened to the knee,'' he said.

It ballooned up on flights. It needed treatment. His play was affected, and Baltimore traded for Jacksonville's Eugene Monroe. McKinnie then went to Baltimore coach Jim Harbaugh and said they didn't need him anymore.

"I've done my part,'' he told Harbaugh. "You got a Super Bowl. Now you can do me this favor."

He wanted a trade to Miami. The only problem was Baltimore played the Dolphins that week and Monroe wasn't ready.

"I figured the trade would happen right after that game,'' he said.

It happened a week later. McKinnie stepped in to start at New England on Oct. 27, which meant Jonathan Martin moved to right tackle, which was a domino in Martin and left guard Richie Incognito leaving the building.

It hasn't been an easy transition. McKinnie has worked with five different left guards. McKinnie, at 6-8, shields Brenner, at 6-1, to such a degree coach Joe Philbin joked he sometimes asks, "Do we have a left guard in there?"

Asked what has surprised him about McKinnie, Philbin says, "He's very quiet, he's very professional in the building, he's quiet, he goes about his business, he's attentive in meetings, he's been on time for every single thing, every obligation.''

That's the surprise, considering the fun a simple internet search on McKinnie reveals.

"I don't know if that should be a surprise but if you're not around a player you don't really now,'' Philbin said.

The real surprise this line is playing decently. And McKinnie is the first answer why.